


I Can Taste How Drunk You Are

by Graveyard



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, M/M, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2335586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graveyard/pseuds/Graveyard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riptide didn't sign up to babysit Nightbeat. Riptide didn't sign up to cart his drunk aft home. And Riptide DEFINITELY didn't sign up for what happened next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Taste How Drunk You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr. Long story short I had a crappy week and decided to write something to cheer myself up. There needs to be roughly one billion more fics about Riptide. Make it so, internet!

"I think he’s had enough," Swerve declared as Nightbeat went face down on the table. There was a creak of barstools as the other patrons leaned in to get a good look at him.  
  
"Ahh, he’s fine," Trailcutter declared, patting him on the back. Nightbeat made a gurgling noise and everyone leaned away again, alarmed. Worried glances were tossed around. Riptide caught the eye of Skids across the bar, who was making sharp gestures at Nightbeat. Riptide sighed and set down his glass, turning to his neighbour at the bar.  
  
"You okay?" Riptide asked Nightbeat, prodding him carefully. There was a muffled sound, and Riptide leaned closer to hear. At that moment, Nightbeat found the strength to turn his head, bringing them almost face-to-face. His visor was overly bright from the excess fuel, and his expression seemed oddly distant. They stared at each other for a long moment before Nightbeat finally spoke.  
  
"Quark?"  
  
"Okay, yeah, he’s had enough." Riptide threw back the rest of his engex, then stooped to lift his drinking buddy. Nightbeat was a dead weight in his arms, and Riptide staggered a moment trying to support him.  
  
"Need help?" Skids called, rising from his seat. Riptide grunted and found a place to sling Nightbeat’s arm around his shoulders amidst all his kibble.  
  
"I think I’ve got him," Riptide replied, and on unsteady feet he lead Nightbeat out the door.  
  
Nightbeat wasn’t a quiet drunk. The whole way back to habsuite 221 he mumbled and laughed at jokes Riptide couldn’t quite make out. Also, he was strangely affectionate. Once he realized that there was a body next to his he snuggled into the warmth, though this made walking more difficult, so Riptide couldn’t really consider it “cute”. When he finally dragged them both to Nightbeat’s door his arms ached from holding Nightbeat up, there was a cramp in his shoulder, and he was feeling thoroughly sick of Nightbeat’s constant mumbling. He dumped his companion at the door and wrestled it open.  
  
"In you go," he said stiffly.  
  
"Quaaark, you’re so cold. Not even gonna help me to my berth?"  
  
"Wasn’t planning on it."  
  
"Don’t go," Nightbeat whined, and he sounded so pitiful that Riptide almost gave in to his demand. Almost. Instead he crouched down and began to forcefully shove Nightbeat through the door so he could get back to the bar and his much less difficult friends. Nightbeat clung to his arms like a space barnacle, and as if that didn’t make this task complicated enough, Nightbeat also found a way to hook his foot around the edge of the door. "Don’t want you to go," Nightbeat hiccuped, pulling Riptide close to him, "you always leave me here alone. I just want you to stay, at least once. Please…" And then Riptide froze as warm lips found his own.  
  
A thousand questions burst to the forefront of his mind, each wrestling for dominance, and Riptide gracefully summed it up when he jerked away and uttered:  
  
"Fwa?"  
  
"Never had a chance to tell you," Nightbeat mumbled. "Y’always found ways to shut me down. I just wanted you to know. I love you." Riptide became suddenly conscious of the fact that his mouth was hanging open, and he shut it quickly. All the questions in his mind evaporated, too numerous for him to make out even one. He couldn’t think, couldn’t fight it when Nightbeat began kissing him again, and instead he just submitted to the moment. Explanations could come later.  
  
Sadly, they came all too soon. Nightbeat pulled away and smiled up at him, whispering a single word with quiet reverence. The wrong word.  
  
"Quark." Riptide flinched and ducked his helm. Right. Those kisses weren’t intended for him; he had taken them without permission. He tried not to think about how weird and lonely that revelation was.  
  
"Come on, let’s get you to your berth," he said quietly, and this time Nightbeat didn’t protest. It was clumsy, and awkward, but they managed to maneuver Nightbeat across the room and up onto his recharge slab. Riptide twitched when Nightbeat found his hand and squeezed it tightly.  
  
"Thank you," Nightbeat whispered, "for finally staying."  
  
"Yeah," Riptide said, feeling cruel and insincere as he gave in to Nightbeat’s fantasy. "Go to recharge, Nightbeat. I’ll see you tomorrow." And to finish digging his own grave, he leaned forward and kissed Nightbeat carefully on the forehelm.  
  
"Night Quark. Love you." Riptide hesitated a long moment, but finally he responded.  
  
"Love you, too." And he held Nightbeat’s hand until his ventilations slowed, his optics dimmed, and he drifted off into happy dreams of the past.

**Author's Note:**

> I promised you cheering up and I didn't deliver. Hahaha...sorry. You got feels instead.


End file.
